Is Barney too frank?

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Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) speaks during a news conference on issues before the House Financial Services Committee.
John Shinkle

“That, I think, is kind of ungracious on his part, or at least on the part of a chairman of a committee. He really shouldn’t be behaving quite as politically and as partisan ... as he tends to when he gets under pressure,” Wallison said.

Added one financial services lobbyist: “Normally, in the past, he’s been very sort of balanced. He would measure his response, and you could count on him for a thoughtful response. Now it seems politics is driving this rather than substance.”

Frank dismisses such criticism as a failure to understand his role as chairman and says he’s proving he understands the importance of making compromises to get the best bill possible. “I haven’t changed my personal positions. I changed after listening to the members and counting what I thought was doable,” he said.

“It’s a constant process of testing. As to what I would like to do and how close you can come to it, depends on trying to get a majority of votes at all times. You make a trade-off. If you’re an individual member, you can do whatever you want, but you may not get it made into law. If you become the chairman, you have much greater authority to get things done, but only if you accept some constraint on your personal choices.”

Even conservatives praise Frank’s intellect — even if he sometimes lets you know he’s the smartest guy in the room. He’s known by colleagues as a skilled policymaker and a pragmatic one, too, able and willing to hammer out compromises, and he won praise in some quarters for working out a compromise on derivatives with conservative Rep. Collin Peterson (D-Minn.), who chairs the Agriculture Committee.

But if Republicans are hoping for a more nonpartisan Chairman Frank, they’re going to be disappointed. He sent out a fundraising e-mail Tuesday that touted his coming floor battle on financial reform against members of “a hostile, virtually unanimous Republican Party,” who plan to oppose his bill because they have “learned nothing from the current economic crisis.”

“Barney has not changed,” Scott Ferson, a veteran Massachusetts Democratic consultant, said, chuckling. “His position is more prominent now obviously, but if you tell the Newsweek story or any anecdote on Barney Frank to people who know him in Massachusetts, you’ll get sort of knowing shakes of the head.”

Barney is simply an "out of the closet" liberal who unashamedly ignores the rule of law, the Constitution and even the appearance of propriety in his personal/public life. He wears the bulletproof shield enjoyed by the President, i.e. if you disagree with any of my assertions you are homophobic or a racist in Barry's case.

He has flaunted the law, ignored the reality of his own corruption and dares the general public to take issue with it. In fact his "double dog dare ya" antics have gone so far as to sophomoric name calling of others, parliamentary ***** slaps and even flagrant untruths.

It is rare in history that the making of a melt down is so well documented with actual voice and visual recordings. You can praise this guy for being clever, smart, and restrained but nothing, nothing will change the fact that, however well-intentioned, he, Dodd and the rest of the "afffordable housing" crowd were responsible for the sub-prime melt down and the housing bubble.

If his constituants in Mass. are so blind or deaf not to see or hear this, the history of that great state will continue be tarnished by his representation.

The unemployment rate reached a low of 4.4% in October 2006. Then the Democrats took over Congress and the situation began to unravel. Within two years, unemployment reached 6.8%.

Then BHO took the presidency. With control of legislative and executive branches, the economy fell apart and the Democrats delivered the worst recession since the Great Depression - also brought to you by total Democrat control and ignorant and wasteful 'stimulus spending'.

Barney represents the vindictive and fanatical liberal wing of the party. A little known fact; After seeing the Tea Bag rallies this year, Barney got the idea to form his own ultra liberal group. They call themselves the dusch bags.

is rare in history that the making of a melt down is so well documented with actual voice and visual recordings. You can praise this guy for being clever, smart, and restrained but nothing, nothing will change the fact that, however well-intentioned, he, Dodd and the rest of the "afffordable housing" crowd were responsible for the sub-prime melt down and the housing bubble.

If his constituants in Mass. are so blind or deaf not to see or hear this, the history of that great state will continue be tarnished by his representation.

...and that's all I have to say about that.

Very true, barney's boyfriend at the time was in charge of one of the Fannies as I recall and barney's cooperation made the boyfriend look real good. now the taxpayers have to pay the penalty.

Frank is personally responsible for the financial meltdown were in. Remember the "roll the dice" comment when he was told there are too many loans to people who can't repay them. He's a liar and a fraud and needs to be retired to that male bordello his boyfriend was running out of hes apartment.

Frank and Dodd are the two ppl most responsible for the crash of 2008, those two more than any others forced banks to give loans to ppl they knew would never pay them back, they are both despicable human beings.

Ted Kennedy was classic corrupt Politician and could go toe-to-toe with the likes of Daley I and II. Barney Frank, on the other hand, is the Poster Child for the Modern Liberal Corrupt Politician; he doesn't even know he's corrupt.